06/16/2011

Tupac, U.S. Open and a lioness eyes a baby boy

On what would have been Tupac Shakur's 40th birthday, an inmate has admitted to shooting Shakur two years before his murder. Dexter Issac, who is serving a life sentence on unrelated charges, claims in a letter to AllHipHop.com that he was paid $2,500 to rob Shakur at Manhattan's Quad studio. He says he was hired by hip-hop manager James "Henchman" Rosemond. The robbery and shooting set off three years of reprisals that ended in the murders of Shakur and Notorious BIG. Isaac is serving time on a 1998 indictment for murder, robbery, fraud and witness intimidation. Rosemond has disappeared, on the run since May amid Federal drug charges. Both men have long been linked to Shakur's robbery, but never charged. (Letter: http://allhiphop.com/photos/storage/1000.4112.22790236.AHHdexterissaacsstatement.jpg)

Also trending this morning is the 111th U.S. Open, which begins this morning at Congressional Country Club. No Tiger Woods, but plenty of speculation. The major championships are now in a stretch that has seen 10 different winners dating to Padraig Harrington's PGA Championship victory at Oakland Hills in 2008, so it is anybody's guess who wins this one.

Then there's Vancouver…. Angry, drunken fans ran wild the Canucks' 4-0 loss to Boston in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. They set cars and garbage cans on fire, smashed windows, showered giant TV screens with beer bottles and danced atop overturned vehicles. Looters even smashed windows and ran inside department stores. Some of that video is showing up on YouTube.

At the movies, Green Lantern is buzzing as it opens at midnight at many theaters. The reviews have not been especially promising. Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic, writes, "Remember when big, summer blockbusters were fun? That notion apparently eluded the makers of "Green Lantern," a joyless amalgamation of expository dialogue and special effects that aren't especially special." Yikes! We'll see what Sandy says tomorrow.

From the video vaults at YyouTube comes a video uploaded last April of a baby boy at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo who apparently looks a lot like dinner to a lioness. Thank heavens for that glass window.

If you missed it on Eyewitness News First at 4:00 p.m., check out the bad joke that a reporter tries to tell the Dalai Lama. It's among the most popular videos this morning on YouTube in New York City.

And from Oklahoma comes an incredibly intense downburst. The home owner is rolling on some ominous clouds when about 2:35 into the video the downburst hits. It's pretty intense, but almost as quickly as it arrives, it ends.

Finally, the most popular new video this morning in New York City is a commercial. It's also been trending on Twitter as it features Robin Williams discussing his fascination with Zelda.